Newsham Splashes To Best Result Of 2013 At Croft

Speedworks Toyota driver Dave Newsham recovered a tough start to the fifth round of the 2013 British Touring Car Championship at Croft with a fine performance in the weekend’s sodden final race to seal the best result of his campaign so far.

The Inverness driver went to the North Yorkshire venue on the back of his best qualifying result of the season, but had a troublesome start to Sunday’s racing when, having started 12th on the grid, suspension problems forced him out of the day’s opening encounter.

Newsham recovered in style over the rest of Sunday’s proceedings to climb up the field in a difficult second race held in tricky conditions made undesirable by a pre-race shower, finishing in ninth position after starting a lowly 23rd on the grid. He then had by far hismost impressive showing of 2013 in the day’s soaking third race, running a competitive fourth behind Andrew Jordan for much of the race before taking the flag in a spirited fifth place.

“Things turned out not too badly in the end,” reflected the 45-year-old. “The car felt strong at the start of races two and three, and I was able to make the most of that to pick up places. It was no fun out there in the final one though; the rain was falling so heavily that I couldn’t even see my bonnet for the first few laps. In the end I just tried to hang on as best I could.”

“It was treacherous out there, and it was a case of just trying to stay on the circuit. At the end I thought I might be able to hold off Gordon Shedden and take fourth but then a downpour came and I went into Sunny to find a river on the track. I went off and on to the grass and Gordon went by. Fifth is alright, I’m quite happy.”

The result projected Newsham into the top 10 in the overall standings on 80 points, also moving the two-time winner of 2012 u pto seventh in the Independents championship, currently being headed comfortably by Jordan ahead of Colin Turkington.

In contrast, Newsham’s Toyota team-mate Ollie Jackson had a weekend he admitted he would rather banish to the back of his memory, having had his weekend ruined by engine troubles in race one and then an incident with Will Bratt at the hairpin in race three.

“I can’t remember a worse weekend since I started racing,” said a dismayed Jackson afterwards. “My luck in the first race, like at Oulton Park, was rubbish. In the last one, I was in second gear and barely moving when I just went straight on into the back of Will’s car. I just want to put this meeting behind me, and hope my fortunes change next time.”